Gluten-Free Oats

Glanbia Agribusiness is a purchaser and processor of grain in Ireland. They have recently begun to sell their OatPure™ gluten-free oats to manufacturers in both North America and Europe, through their sister company, Glanbia Nutritionals. According to Glanbia, their OatPure™ oats are guaranteed to contain a level of gluten below 10 ppm. Also according to Glanbia, their oats have been licensed by Coeliac UK, the Coeliac Society of Ireland and the Spanish Federation of Coeliac Associations (FACE) […]

In Honor of Celiac Disease Awareness Month, Gluten Free Watchdog is writing a series of articles (the goal is one per day during the month of May) related to the gluten-free diet–currently the ONLY treatment for celiac disease.

Post (#10)…

I have written more on oats for both scientific and general audiences than any other issue related to the gluten-free diet. My first article published in the scientific literature in 1997 was on oats and there are at least 27 posts on […]

Background: Two scientific publications from PepsiCo scientists provide us with the best data to date on the state of contamination of oats sold as gluten-free in the US (1, 2). Extensive testing by PepsiCo found 1 in every 57 servings tested (0.25 g sample taken from each 45 to 50 g ground serving) to contain gluten at levels at or above 20 parts per million using the R5 ELISA R7001 assay. The scientists point out that the number of […]

Note: This is one of two companion articles published today on oats. An updated position statement on oats from Gluten Free Watchdog will be published in the near future.

Very long bottom line

“Do oats belong in a gluten-free diet?” This was the title of the first article of mine published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature. This was way back in 1997. Oats were controversial then and they are controversial now. There have been questions about: oat safety, oat avenin; different […]

Disclosure: The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Ronald D. Fritz, Yumin Chen, and Veronica Contreras are salaried employees of PepsiCo Inc. or Quaker Foods and Snacks (QFS), a subsidiary of PepsiCo, Inc., which funded this research. QFS has a commercial interest in gluten-free foods.

“ The Canadian Celiac Association (CCA) recommends that people with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity DO NOT consume the gluten-free labeled Cheerios products at this time because of concerns about the potential levels of gluten in boxes of these cereals. The CCA is receptive to evaluating any additional information that General Mills is willing to disclose.”

Gluten Free Watchdog is in complete agreement with the CCA’s position on “gluten-free” Cheerios

Over the past five years Gluten Free Watchdog has tested 35 different oat products labeled gluten-free that list oats as the first or second ingredient. Bottom line: Based on testing data from Gluten Free Watchdog, oat products labeled gluten-free are at a higher risk of gluten contamination as compared to labeled gluten-free foods as a whole.

28/35 or 80% of oat products tested below 5 parts per million of gluten.
5/35 or 14% of oat products tested at […]

The North American Society for the Study of Celiac Disease recently released a summary statement on oats. In the interest of full disclosure, I am a member of NASSCD. While I provided comments via a dietitian colleague on various drafts of this statement, I am not a member of the executive council and was not directly involved in the writing of this statement. The statement can be accessed HERE. Please share your thoughts.

Bottom Line: Based on all of the information available to us, including Quaker’s testing and our own independent testing, Gluten Free Watchdog does not oppose the use of Quaker gluten-free oatmeal by the celiac disease (and non celiac gluten sensitivity) community.

Gluten Free Watchdog supports the use of gluten-free oats by the celiac disease (and other gluten-related disorders) community that are produced under a robust gluten-free purity protocol. For examples of purity protocols see the post “Oats produced under a […]